Funnier in Latin
by Orange Bulldog
Summary: Willow moves back to LA after breaking up with Kennedy and starts working for Angel. She's got a lot in common with Fred, but how much? Femslash. Reviews welcome!


Disclaimers:

These are obviously not my characters, I'm just borrowing them from Joss Whedon and anyone else who owns them.

If you have issues with people of the same sex loving each other, or live someplace where that's illegal (in which case, consider moving) please move on.

Takes place after the series finale of Buffy and after the Angel episode You're Welcome. Things go differently from that point.

Pairing: Willow/Fred

Rating: PG

Willow walked dully off the plane and into the terminal of the LAX airport. She wandered down the concourse until she passed out of the secure section. She heard her name.

"Willow! Willow!" Fred was jumping and waving at her. Willow managed a smile and went to greet the girl.

"Hey Fred. Thanks for meeting me. You didn't really have to."

"Oh hey, of course! What are friends for right? You already went through customs?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, in Miami, after my first flight."

"Okay then, let's go get your bags!"

Willow didn't have much luggage. Most of her possessions had been blown up last May with the destruction of Sunnydale, and she'd only had a few months in Brazil to gather things. She silently followed Fred to the parking garage and loaded her suitcases into the car.

"So, were your flights okay?" Fred asked, trying to cheer the redhead up.

"Yeah, I guess." Willow acknowledged. The two rode in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey Willow, if you want to talk about it..." Fred finally offered tentatively.

"There really isn't anything to talk about. I broke up with her, not the other way around, I don't know why I'm upset. I know it was the right thing to do. I mean, she cheated on me. And I always knew we weren't forever. She was like....a nice distraction. I needed a first, after...after Tara." She finally got out. "But we didn't have much in common."

"Well, I'm glad you knew you could call us. You're always welcome. For your skills and for you." Fred said, smiling at the witch. Willow had called a week ago in tears, asking if she could come join the team because she and Kennedy had broken up and she didn't want to stay in Brazil.

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"We uh...we all live here now, upstairs...you know how I told you we run Wolfram and Hart now....anyway we set up a room for you." Fred said, carrying one of Willow's suitcases into the office building.

Willow followed, carrying the other and looking up in awe. "You guys run this place? And you are the head of the science division? That's so cool!"

Fred blushed slightly and looked down. "Well, it's not really that big. It is nice to have all of the equipment we have here....did I tell you we just got an 800 megahertz NMR machine? It has resolution like you wouldn't believe!"

"Really? Wow, I think the best they had at school was a 600, and that was locked up so tight even I decided against trying to get in to it." She grinned. For the first time in a week she forgot about Kennedy.

Fred grinned back. "Well whenever you want I'll show you this one. I was hoping you'd work down there with me, I've got techs but not many people who really know their stuff, you know?"

Willow's eyes lit up. "Are you serious? Of course! That is, I was planning on finishing school, but I'm sure I could fit it in. I've got about three semesters left, I'm sure I'll be able to transfer to UCLA."

"All rightly then! You just get settled in, no rush." They reached a door at the end of the hallway. "Here we go, this is you. I'm right there, next door. The kitchen is at the other end, we mostly do take-out or microwave stuff, but sometimes we make real food. Well, except for Angel and Spike of course...their blood is well labelled in the fridge, not that it's easily mistaken for anything else anyway..." Fred trailed off as she realized Willow was watching her with a wry smile on her face. "But then, I guess you know what it's like to have a vampire around huh. Sorry for the babbling."

Willow smiled. "No worries, I know the feeling. Feel free to babble all you want around me." She assured the girl, thinking the babbling was really quite cute.

"Okay, I'll be in my room, just come by when you're ready and I'll give you the whole tour." Fred said before rushing off, still feeling embarrassed even though Willow had been so nice about her babbling.

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Over the next week Willow and Fred spent a lot of time together, realizing just how much in common they had. Willow got herself enrolled in UCLA, but she couldn't start until the summer term, as they were already a month into the spring semester. She wasn't worried about staying busy, as she was already getting settled into the lab helping Fred. It was rather nice to get back into science, she had let it slide somewhat when she became so focused on magic. She enjoyed her time in the lab for another reason too – Winifred Burkle. It was becoming rapidly impossible to deny just why she liked being around the shy physicist so much.

Fred, for her part, was also enjoying her time spent with the enigmatic witch. She marvelled at the two opposite aspects of her friend's character. On one hand she was incredibly powerful. She remembered the spell she had helped Willow with to restore Angel's soul last year, and she had heard stories from Angel and Spike. She knew without Willow's spell on the Hellmouth, Sunnydale's fate would have been quite different. To entirely change the line of slayers...she couldn't imagine how much power that had taken. But the other side of Willow was the girl who had been picked on in high school, ignored by her parents, and still couldn't imagine that she was anyone special. Fred could sympathize more with the second girl but she found the way both sides of Willow meshed.

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Willow lay in her room thinking. She knew she was attracted to Fred, but she had no idea what to do about it. First of all, she had never made the first move in a relationship. Second, she had no idea if Fred was even interested in women, not to mention her. She knew she had dated Gunn for awhile, but that was it. Willow certainly wasn't going to make assumptions based on one boyfriend, hello, that had been her. Fred did seem to show some signs, but she was terrified of making a fool of herself. She thought back to the conversation they had when she had come to the hotel to restore Angel's soul last year. She had wondered about Fred's orientation then, though her relationship with Kennedy had made it a moot point. Now what had happened...Fred had been saying something about looking over an ancient text together...

"...actually, I think it's funnier in Latin. You know how that is sometimes."

"I'm seeing someone." Willow had said regretfully.

She couldn't remember Fred's face at that. Had she been confused? Weirded out that Willow would have taken her comments that way? Or possibly disappointed?

After pondering that point for a while and realizing she was getting nowhere, she decided she should just ask Fred.

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Willow knocked on Fred's bedroom door, but received no answer.

"Probably in the lab." She mused. Fred spent more time there than in her room. So she made her way to Fred's office.

"Hey there, you busy?" she said with a smile, finding Fred with her nose buried in a book at her desk.

"For you? Never." Fred grinned. "Sit down, what's up?"  
Willow laughed nervously. "Well...this may sound really stupid, and just forget it if I'm way off base here...but do you remember when I came last year to help with Angelus?"

"Of course, duh!"

"Right, well...right before I left, we were talking about something, and I responded with 'I'm seeing someone.' I uh...did you think it was weird that I said that?"

Fred raised her eyebrows. "Er, what brings that up?" though she thought she had a clue.

"Fred, did you think it was weird." Willow repeated softly.

Fred looked down at her hands. "Not really. I mean, well, yes, but not in the way I think you are talking about. I thought it was weird because I thought you were flirting with me the whole time, and here you clearly hadn't been since you were seeing someone. Plus I thought I was being more covert than I guess I was." She said, feeling the blush creep up her cheeks as she admitted more than she had intended.

"But you didn't think it was weird because I was reading the whole situation wrong?" Willow said, with hope in her voice.

Fred slowly shook her head. "No."

"What about now? Do you think I'm reading the situation wrong now?" Willow asked timidly.

Fred shook her head again before lifting her head to meet Willow's eyes. "The situation hasn't changed." She said shyly.

"Mine has." Willow said simply. "The answer would be different now." She stood up and walked around Fred's desk. "Stop me if I'm misinterpreting anything." She whispered as she took Fred's hands and pulled her to her feet gently. She pushed the brown hair behind Fred's ears and left her hand resting on her neck as she slowly bent her head down until their lips met.


End file.
